Anyone else have to work through Independence Day?

I did. I had $728.79 worth of Ebay auctions that closed this morning, and they're not gonna package themselves. One of them was an early 1900's cast iron combination safe. That weighed exactly 64 pounds packaged. It brought the starting bid of $500, but those have sold as high as $1200 before inflation and high gas prices set in. I only had $20 in it, so no big deal. One of the shipping quotes I got a request for was from a guy in California. It would have cost over $160 to ship that USPS, or a little over $142 through UPS Ground. Luckily the winning bidder lived one state over. Ebay's pretty good but the fees, federal, and state taxes can take bite out of your profits. You can do ok if you buy low and sell high. But you won't get rich because some of that goes back into buying more stuff, gas to drive all over the place, meals, shipping supplies, most of which are deductible. But even if you don't make a lot of money, you end up with a lot of cool stuff to play with.

View attachment 666132
😓😥😔😔
 
Dude, I'm retired. I can make as much or little as I want, smoke and drink while I'm working, and set my own hours. I get to drive all over the countryside and buy up things you've never seen before. Some of it I keep, like the cheap guns I find everywhere. Some of I use, and some of it I sell. And most of it I get for pennies on the dollar. And yes, I do pay taxes on everything. But the greatest pleasure is hooking people up with things you won't find at any store. Things that reconnect them with their past. Things they treasure. You just have to know what you're looking for, and have to have a sense of what's valuable, meaningful, and desirable. You can't just throw any shit out there and expect someone to buy it. Everyone has their niche. Mine is military collectibles from WW1, WW2, and the Vietnam War, and it takes a lot of digging. All through the pandemic, I hit probably over a thousand garages sales, estate sales, auctions, and flea markets. I never wore a mask, I didn't get the jab, and I didn't die.
I used to do the around fifteen years ago, still have many boxes of leftover stuff to sell, I will donate it to a charity organization.
 
I worked for myself and I looked forward to holidays because it meant I could get shit done with no interruptions.

But now I'm retired and holidays mean nothing to me
 
Dude, I'm retired. I can make as much or little as I want, smoke and drink while I'm working, and set my own hours. I get to drive all over the countryside and buy up things you've never seen before. Some of it I keep, like the cheap guns I find everywhere. Some of I use, and some of it I sell. And most of it I get for pennies on the dollar. And yes, I do pay taxes on everything. But the greatest pleasure is hooking people up with things you won't find at any store. Things that reconnect them with their past. Things they treasure. You just have to know what you're looking for, and have to have a sense of what's valuable, meaningful, and desirable. You can't just throw any shit out there and expect someone to buy it. Everyone has their niche. Mine is military collectibles from WW1, WW2, and the Vietnam War, and it takes a lot of digging. All through the pandemic, I hit probably over a thousand garages sales, estate sales, auctions, and flea markets. I never wore a mask, I didn't get the jab, and I didn't die.

Again...................it's a hobby where you make money, not working. I've spent a couple of times working on various holidays (mainly because I ended up with duty on those days during my time in the Navy), but even then, I didn't really call it "work" as the people on duty were put on holiday hours, and pretty much had the day to themselves except for when they were on watch. And, you even said that you were retired, meaning that you don't really have to work. Personally, I only consider someone working on the holidays if they HAVE to be there to get a paycheck so that they can meet their living expenses (groceries, rent, utilities, etc.). You didn't have to work on the 4th, you chose to do so because (like you said) there were fewer people to bother you so you could get things done. I'm guessing that if you had decided to not do anything on the 4th, it wouldn't have affected your bottom line for living much.
 
Again...................it's a hobby where you make money, not working. I've spent a couple of times working on various holidays (mainly because I ended up with duty on those days during my time in the Navy), but even then, I didn't really call it "work" as the people on duty were put on holiday hours, and pretty much had the day to themselves except for when they were on watch. And, you even said that you were retired, meaning that you don't really have to work. Personally, I only consider someone working on the holidays if they HAVE to be there to get a paycheck so that they can meet their living expenses (groceries, rent, utilities, etc.). You didn't have to work on the 4th, you chose to do so because (like you said) there were fewer people to bother you so you could get things done. I'm guessing that if you had decided to not do anything on the 4th, it wouldn't have affected your bottom line for living much.

Actually I did have to work. Ebay gives me one day to ship things, which was today. I can post things at my own leisure but then they sell, they have to be shipped out within one day.

It's not like I've never worked. I was a journeyman commercial brick and block layer for 18 years. Then I went to college and became an electronics technician . That I did for 12 years before retiring.

Now I sit in my three bedroom, two bath, two car garage house on 100 acres of wooded land out in the country, and work a little on the sideline. Life is good.
 

Forum List

Back
Top